Top 10 facts about the giraffe

Mammalian Species

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This June, people around the globe are marking World Giraffe Day, an annual event to recognise the bovine dwellers of the African continent. While these long-necked herbivores remain a firm favourite of the safari, there remains much about the giraffe which is relatively unknown. In order to celebrate our Animal of the Month, we bring you 10 amazing facts about the giraffe.

2. The Camel-Leopard

The modern word giraffe probably stems from the Arabic zarāfa, from the Ethiopian zarat, meaning ‘slender’. But in ancient Greek and archaic English, giraffes were known as ‘camelopards’ (καμηλοπάρδαλις), from the combination of the Greek words for camel and leopard. Giraffes were seen as a mixture of these two animals on account of their camel-like, bovine features and yellow-brown, leopard-like fur.

3. Giraffe Family Tree

There is only one major species of giraffe alive today, but there are actually as many as nine different sub-species’ roaming the African continent:

6. Potential Predators

Despite their large size, giraffes are sometimes predated by other animals. Lions will sometimes hunt these giant creatures, and in Kruger National Park giraffe accounts for an estimated 43% of a lion’s diet. On rare occasions they have also fallen prey to other African creatures such as crocodiles and cheetahs.

9. Necking and Clubbing

Giraffes also use their long, powerful necks to assert their dominance. Sub-adult male giraffes engage in so-called “necking contests”, in which they intertwine their necks, wrestle, and butt against each other for 30 minutes or more.

Giraffes face overhunting and habitat degradation. Trees are chopped down for firewood and to create grazing land for livestock; the size of the animals and the amount of meat they provide results in large-scale poaching; the animal’s distaste for fences makes giraffes targets for farmers looking to protect their livestock.

In the Sahel—a region of land between the Sahara and Sudanian Savanna—giraffe populations have been shrinking for many years. However they remain among the last indigenous large mammals to survive in the area. While other browsers lost out to competition with domestic livestock, the evolutionary traits of the giraffe have allowed these creatures to continue feeding on branches above the heads of these competitors.

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